Caring for Leather Shoes and Boots

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by Adobe Stock/kkolosov
Leather and leather shoes both need proper care if you want them to last a long time.

Learn about caring for leather shoes and how to waterproof leather boots, whether they’re brand-new or need general upkeep as they age.

It’s easy to understand why humans have been wearing leather apparel for thousands of years. Flexible, strong, functional, and decorative, it’s one of the most versatile materials around. But it’s not indestructible. If you have leather goods, particularly leather footwear, you need to know a few essentials about caring for leather. We’ve compiled the following tips.

Caring for Leather Shoes: Breaking In

Leather boots and leather shoes need to be broken in to be comfortable. Depending on the kind of leather and the type of construction, this can take a little or a long time. In the course of researching this subject, we encountered suggestions ranging from the barely plausible to the patently ridiculous, all of them aimed at breaking in new boots in the shortest amount of time with the least discomfort to the wearer.

One suggestion that apparently gets a lot of play is filling the boots with water and letting them stand overnight, then wearing them with two pairs of socks for several hours the next day. Unless broken in means “broken down” to you, don’t do this. Water will soak into the unprotected threads in the insole seams and cause them to rot. Mildew will form inside the shoe, where it’s nearly impossible to get out.

  • Updated on Jul 7, 2022
  • Originally Published on Nov 1, 1984
Tagged with: apparel, footwear, leather, leather boots, leather care, leather shoes, shoe care, waterproofing
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